In good films, there is always a directness that entirely frees us from the itch to interpret.

Making social comment is an artificial place for an artist to start from. If an artist is touched by some social condition, what the artist creates will reflect that, but you can't force it.

There is an understandable vindictiveness in people who come from Communist countries. They want to keep telling us that we were fools to think that we could make radical changes in our society. Though I understand their dismay, respect their suffering and don't understand the gullibility of some people who don't take in how repressive these societies are, I still think it's important to keep people of all kinds as active in civic matters as possible.

Nature in America has always been suspect, on the defensive, cannibalized by progress. In America, every specimen becomes a relic.

Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech.

The truth of history crowds out the truth of fiction - as if one were obliged to choose between them.

I urge you to be as impudent as you dare. BE BOLD, BE BOLD, BE BOLD.